Why does the city want a Court St. garden bench oasis removed?

Hey Neighbors - 

Happy Saturday!  Allow me to share a little behind the scenes here at Ward 6 before you get start with this week’s newsletter. 

A typical Friday night for me these days is complaining to my family and friends that I didn’t meet my self-imposed EOD deadline to finish the week’s Ward 6 before going out. I complain as if it’s never happened before, which is when the teasing begins. Because the truth is, it happens every week – I just can’t finish Ward 6 until Saturday morning. At least I’m consistent! 

The upshot is that once I press “publish” on Beehiiv (like Substack, but not in so many ways), my mind shifts from watching the clock all morning, trying to get this to you before you go outside and play, to thinking about how eager I am to have you open the newsletter and read everything I’ve learned this past week in our communities. It’s always a mix of pure joy and some trepidation as I hope our interests and sensibilities align.

I’m always eager for feedback and v. open to story ideas or tips. [email protected] or @ward6_brooklyn.

And if our interests and sensibilities align or you read for other reasons, please consider upgrading to $6 a month and sharing Ward 6 with a few (or 10) of your friends and family. I’m trying to get 25 more readers by Labor Day!

Post #46: What are your neighbors reading? Check out Liz's Bar and Books July bestsellers; BK Workspaces is back with a Carroll Gardens entrepreneur and former journalist; Darna Falafel might lose its 10 year old garden oasis; does your neighborhood feel warmer than others? It might be; Coca-Cola branded vending machines for hungry Brooklynites.

I missed Red Hook’s City of Water Day last weekend to celebrate instead on City Island in the Bronx. I love a costume, though, and Resilient Red Hook’s inventive way of making trash pick-up fun along the shoreline.

This month’s BK WORKSPACES involves another serendipitous encounter (see last week’s newsletter about how I met Dr. Krista Archer) and further evidence (as if we needed more) that we live in the city’s best village, where striking up a conversation with a stranger can often lead somewhere delightfully unexpected.

Not that long ago, I was talkin’ up Ward 6 on the sidelines of a Red Hook FC game with a couple of guys I didn’t recognize. Turns out one of them is a loyal reader (🌞), which is how, he said, he knew about the soccer game. Then this: ” We’ve met before. I’m Noah Davis!” What?! 

More than a decade ago, Carroll Gardens’ Noah Davis, a former journalist, came to my rescue with a World Cup crash course for a story I was doing about the coach of the U.S Men’s National Soccer Team. We haven’t talked since 2014, and had never met face-to-face until that day in Red Hook.

Noah covered soccer for over a decade, starting with the 2006 World Cup until he switched careers in 2017. He’s also written, mostly long-form, about niche sports such as quadball and other non-sport related articles. He now runs Three Point Four Media (named for the distance around the long Prospect Park loop), an agency he co-founded with a friend and journalist, whose clients, including big companies and non-profits, hire them to conceive of and write their stories. 

↪The one-two punch of the Hop Shop-Popina outdoor drinking and eating experiences.

↪The playground on Smith Street under the subway tracks, which is chaos in the best kind of way.

↪The slow yet relentless improvements to the waterfront running and biking paths (shoutout Brooklyn Greenway Initiative).

** If you want to be featured in BK Workspaces or know anything to recommend, please send me an email: [email protected]

And congratulations to Maura Cheeks, Liz’s owner, on the birth of her daughter. She sent an email last week thanking the community for their patience this summer with shortened store hours as, she said, she learns the delicate balance of being a new mom and running a small business. 

With such crazy weather, a repeat from last week’s newsletter: If your home or business floods, our community boards recommend reporting here. You’ll notice if you click on the link now, it says it’s “inactive” until a weather event, which seems strange. There are also resources here.

Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, Col. Street Waterfront or Cobble Hill? **

(see the end of the newsletter for the answer)

Not sure if a soda company is the best branding partner considering NYC probably spends oodles on preventative healthcare, but… that’s who CC Vending picked as its partner after winning the city’s bid to feed straphangers at 26 subway stations. For now, Borough Hall is our closest subway station on tap to get a vending machine; more will be added to the list. 

The Parks Department recently told Darna Falafel on Court Street that their popular bucolic garden bench is damaging the tree and must be removed. This comes after 10 years providing the community a shady spot to eat and hang out. 

Shafiq told me he arrived one day to an orange and white sticker wrapped around the tree with a handwritten message, “no bench.” An inspection notice arrived a week later, which says, “no elements of the cafe may be placed here.” Three of his neighbors will also have to remove their tree benches. 

The Parks Department told me the merchants need a permit and the benches can “restrict tree growth, and can cause significant damage to the trees.” It is just me or does it seems odd that the Parks Dep. inspected the tree after 10 years on Court St. Maybe someone complained? 

I exchanged emails with Anneliese Zausner-Mannes, the Program Director at Big Reuse, an environmental non-profit that helps communities plant and maintain trees to see what more information she could offer about the Parks Dep. decision. She said, the benches could be obstructing the tree bed so no light can get to it and no tree care can be done, such as “aerating the soil and applying unsifted compost or mulch to help protect the root system and help the tree maintain hydration across different seasons.” Anneliese also said, she is not an expert and defers to the Parks Dep.

Born and raised a few doors down from Darna Falafel on Court St., Shafiq said he’s the one who called 311 to get his tree planted 15 years ago as part of a MillionTreesNYC. “The tree is growing beautifully and tall,” he said, from the work he’s done to care for it all these years. He made sure there were gaps in the bench to allow for water to seep through, and put up a fence underneath to keep rodents away.  “People don’t throw garbage either because it’s looks so nice.”

Tonight! 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM | Community Potluck | Portside 2nd Saturdays TankerTime on the Mary Whalen | BYOB and food, BBQ provided | Next to the Red Hook ferry terminal

Today - Sunday | Get your tintype (antique photographs) portrait with Eric Thornton of Goodness + Truth Studios| pop-up 352 Van Brunt St | Mon: by appt, and Wed. noon - 8:00 PM pic?

Tuesday, Aug. 4th 6:00 PM | Music in Cobble Hill Park: Lesser Known Women

Wed., Aug. 5th, 5:00PM - 7:30 PM | Twice Desired x Café Brume Midsummer Night’s Pop-Up | 80-90 Montague Street

** Red Hook is the warmest and 4.1 degrees warmer than the city average. Thank you, CB6

Thanks for reading! JLH